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The Stuart Rossiter Trust Fund |
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Registered Charity Number 292076 |
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TRUSTEES REPORT FOR 2001 |
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This was the sixth full year of operation for the Charity. The Charity’s main objects are set out in paragraph 8 of this Report. The Charity’s financial year is the calendar year. The Charity originated under a provision in the will of Stuart Rossiter who died on the 19th December 1982.
The Charity is governed by a Trust Deed dated 3rd June 1985 and by an Order of the Charity Commission dated the 24th January 1995 and by a Deed of Modification dated the 21st August 1995.
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| 2. |
Two books were published by the Charity in 2001 namely: Salvador Bofarull’s book on Pigeon Mail through History and the second Stuart Rossiter Trust Postal History Journal containing three monographs on different subjects.
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| 3. |
Looking ahead to 2002 and beyond the programme for publishing [provided that the texts are completed] approved by the Trustees at the moment is: books on The Postal History of Prisoners of War and Civil Internees in East Asia during World war 2, Shipwreck mail, the Postal History of the British Army of the Black Sea 1919 to 1922 , Imperial Airways crash mail, the Postal History of Spanish New Orleans, Australian airmails, Russian post and the Forwarding Agents, the Postal History of Denmark, the Postal History of Cardiff, Soldiers’ Mail and the Postal History of the Royal Marines.
Grants for research and then publication by the Authors concerned are being considered for the effect of electrical communications on the operation of the Post Office in the USA from the time of Samuel Morse, the relation of the Oxford Colleges to the British Post office, Volume 2 of the mail of Prisoners of War in the Far East, West African airmails and Elder Dempsters position in the African mail services.
The Charity’s website www.rossitertrust.com became operational in 2001. It gives details relating to the Charity and its publications which extends the detail in this Report for any person wishing to know more about the Charity.
It is intended to put the Charity’s Annual Accounts, its Annual Report, its Annual Lectures, details of forthcoming works for publication and Authors’ Guidelines on the website in 2002.
The cumulative position as in December 2001 from the last quarter of 1995 is summarised by the Trustees as follows:
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| 1. |
Books published |
15 |
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Research grants taken up and paid |
4 |
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Memorial Lectures |
7 |
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Applications for publications approved |
9 |
| 5. |
Applications for research grants approved |
5 |
| 6. |
Books published with financial assistance from the Charity |
6 |
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Books to be published with financial assistance from the Charity |
6 |
| 8. |
Book published by an Annual Lecturer privately from which the Charity has benefited |
1 |
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The Seventh Stuart Rossiter Memorial Lecture was delivered by Denis Vandervelde. The subject was "Postal History or Postal Archaeology? Researching the obscure".
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Audited accounts are available here and applications for copies should be sent to the corresponding trustee.
Assets of the Charity at the 31st December 2001 were valued at £325,890.
Investment income was £9,203 and £600 was received in donations. Revenue from sales of books was £5,283 and with other miscellaneous income the total income [disregarding capital gains and losses was £14,540].
Expenditure was £12,821.
Included in this was expenditure for grants and publication costs of £6,046, administration expenses of £2,906, for the Annual lecture £1.292 and for one year’s audit fees £500.
The new website design and rental cost was £2,068 and there will be extra cost in 2002 to update it.
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The trustees have:
(a) Established an income reserve which is designed to be available to cover the cost of important works which might be too expensive to fund out of annual income on a year by year basis. The income reserve on the 31st December 2001 was £9,205 and the accumulated income surplus £9,291. Forward publishing and grant plans or commitments assume that all this money will be spent in the next four years.
(b) Established a policy that sales revenue for publication shall be treated as income in the year in which the revenue arises and will not be treated as capital and will not (unless circumstances warrant) be credited to income reserve. This policy is consistent with making sure that money is made available to fund further projects as soon as that income has been received.
Other policies remain as set out in the Annual Report for 1999 copies of which are available on application.
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The trustees as will be seen from paragraph 4 are prepared to allocate income on a forward basis because by its very nature publishing works entails a long rather than a short working period between approval of a project and publication. The author needs to have financial assurances that funds will be available for publication before embarking on the detail of research and writing.
There is therefore a difference between policy on income reserve (for applications which may be made in the future) and money reserved for specific projects to meet forward contractual obligations to authors.
The Trustees rely on investment advice from its investment advisers who are Gerrards of Queens Square Bristol BS1 4QP. The investment policy is related to long term growth and reasonable current income. The Trustees have the wide investment powers of an individual.
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The policy set out in paragraph 6 of the 1995 report remains unchanged. That paragraph said:
"The Trustees have found that there are many projects for research and publication which can be funded usefully within the terms of the charitable objects of the charity; the path of progress is to move forward slowly but deliberately, and with an eye to quality of text and publication while still trying to publish what commercial interests could not afford to publish economically and which private individuals could not afford to publish privately".
It is worth repeating here that the objects of the Charity are to promote research into the history of the postal services and to support publication in this area.
Persons wishing to benefit from the funds of this Charity are invited to make a written application setting out a synopsis of their proposed research and publication. The trustees then ask further questions before deciding on the merits of an application and whether the application if within the objects of the Charity and if approved can be fitted into the Charity’s cash flow for the intended year of research or publication.
There are no restrictions on who can apply or on the subject within the objects: that is to say the Charity acts worldwide in respect of both.
The Trustees personally encourage applications through personal activity and publicise the ability to make applications in the published works of the Charity and on the Charity’s website.
It is the intention of the Trustees to move to a grant based system from 2004 and not to publish directly so many books as have been published up to now. This will relieve the trustees of the responsibility and cost of sales and storage.
The grant system will remain a repayable grant system as it is the policy of the Trustees to make the amount of the publishing cost or of the grant a first charge on the sale proceeds of the book in order to have the money back to fund further research and publishing and not as a windfall gain for the authors. After repayment the usual position is one of sharing the further proceeds of sale with the author. Research grants as such are not normally repayable; likewise small grants to have an archive or collection of research value preserved by copying are not repayable.
The Trustees consider most of their applications immediately through the post to give speed of response and to avoid the cost of travel to meetings. Formal Trustees meetings are normally held twice a year.
The Charity in 2001 began to explore long term links for the continuity of the Trusteeship with the British Library. The British Library is of course itself an educational charity like this Charity, and its work is connected with research and publishing as well as being a national resource with an extensive specialist library connected with the history and practice of postal communication. The Report for 2002 should take this matter further in terms of detailed arrangements. There are no other formal links with any person or body charitable or otherwise save in relation to arrangements with those who sell the Charity’s books to the public at large. Any individual arrangements for co-operation on research or books are made ad hoc according to the needs and circumstances relating to the researcher or author.
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The Trustees in 2000 were Robert Johnson (Corresponding Trustee), Susan Hopson, Peter Kelly and Richard Payne. Peter Kelly retired as a Trustee on the 6th February 2001.
The power of appointing new trustees is vested in the existing Trustees.
The address of the Corresponding Trustee is 65, Manor Park, Redland, Bristol BS6 7HW and all communications or enquiries concerning the Charity or its work may be sent to that address.
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The bankers to the Charity are The Bank of Scotland 21 Prince Street Bristol BS99 7JG. The solicitors to the Charity are Osborne Clarke 50, Queen Charlotte Street Bristol BS1 4HE and the auditor is Mr Maurice Nichols a Chartered Accountant of 43 Manor Park, Redland, Bristol BS6. |
